Chapter 12 A Strange Skill

[Aren't you forgetting something?]

The system asked, except this time, it was in the more human voice, or rather in its other voice…

'It's changed again… the system's voice…' Harry said inwardly. He squinted his brows slightly before finally waving his hand nonchalantly, brushing the thought of his mind.

"What am I forgetting?" He asked the system or rather the 'other voice' of the system.

[You have a skill point. You could use it to upgrade mana conceal and than maybe it would work.]

"Skill… yes, I do have a skill point." Harry said. He finally remembered the skill point he received as bonus reward for completing his first daily quest. The 'other voice' was right, since skill points could be used to upgrade skills by increasing the level, he could gamble on upgrading mana conceal using his only skill point, and hope it'll be enough to conceal the mana in the beast core.

'Skills and abilities.' Harry called out inwardly.

—

[Skills and Abilities]

[Skill Points: 1]

>>Accelerate (level 1)

>>Healing and low-level regeneration (level 1)

>>Mana steal (level 1)

>>Mana conceal (level 1)

>>Mana core illusion (level MAX)

[Affinity Skills and Abilities]

>>Lightning Strike (level 1)

>>Lightning Whip (level 1)

>>Lightning dash (level 1)

>>Lightning ball (level 1)

———

'Use one skill point to upgrade mana conceal.' Harry said inwardly. Since the system worked with his will and imagination, he simply imagined upgrading the skills using one skill point.

[One skill point used]

[Mana conceal level up!]

[Skill 'Mana Conceal' now level 2!]

[Congrats Host on your first skill level up!]

[Hidden Quest 'Level up a skill' Completed]

[Rewards Granted: +100EXP]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up Rewards: +1 stat point added to all stats +5 Stat Points]

Different notifications from the system appeared in front of him, confirming the upgrade of the skill.

However, the notifications didn't stop there.

'Hidden quest? There was an hidden quest…' Harry thought. The notifications about the hidden quest 'level up a skill' was something he had never expected. But there was no way he would complain, a grin appeared on his face as he checked the hidden quest's rewards, the grin on his face only got wider as he read through all the system notifications.

'I leveled up… so leveling up adds one stat point to each stat. I also get five stat points for each level up.' Harry thought with a slight smile on his face.

"Host stats." Harry called out.

—

[Host Stats]

[Name: Harry Morton]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 2]

[EXP: 90/150]

[H/P: 30/30]

[Energy: 25/25]

[Strength: 8]

[Agility: 7]

[Stamina: 9]

[Perception: 4]

[Endurance: 9]

[Intelligence: 8]

[Charm: NULL]

[Stat Points: 5]

—

'All my stats did increase by one point…' Harry muttered. That wasn't the only change in his stats though, his energy went up by a whopping ten points, his health(H/P) also increased. This only brought him to one conclusion:

Each level up adds one stat points to his attributes and ten points to his energy and H/P.

Harry's brows furrowed, he noticed something as he observed his stats—All his stats increased except for his charm stat.

He found this strange, so he decided to ask the system about it. 'System, why did charm stat not increase?'

[The Host's charm stat is locked, the host would have to unlock it]

'Locked?' Harry thought. He then decided to try adding stat points to it, to see it the charm stat would perhaps increase. 'System, add two stat points to charm.'

[ERROR! Stat points can't be added to a locked stat]

'Locked… charm stat is locked?' Harry thought. Just to be sure, he tried adding stat points to it again, however the same notification popped up from the system.

[ERROR! Stat points can't be added to a locked stat]

A frown appeared on Harry's face as the same information flashed across his eyes. He finally understood why his charm stat was shown as null—it was locked!

He didn't understand why the system would lock one of his stats so he asked the system while inwardly hoping it gave a reasonable answer—the system's reply was sometimes vague.

'So why is it locked and how do I unlock it?' Harry asked through his thoughts.

[…]

There was no reply from either the system or the other voice.

A low sigh left Harry's lips, he shook his head and then decided to put his focus on mana conceal, for now that was the most important thing.

He then checked the description for mana conceal, to see if there were any changes due to the skill level up. However, the description remained the same, the only thing that changed was the level.

Although there were no changes in the skill description, Harry knew the skill had definitely gotten more powerful.

He held the beast core once more and then tried to use mana conceal on it once more.

He subconsciously closed his eyes as he willed the skill to activate.

'Please work this time…' Harry thought. Since the mana conceal had leveled up, and his energy had also increased, he felt he had more chances of concealing the beast core's mana. However, he was still a little worried that the skill would fail, just like before…

Compared to his Lightning skills, mana conceal took more time before it finally activated.

pAn,D a-n0ve1,c-o-m Harry eyelids twitched as a strange warm sensation coated his chest. It felt similar to the one he felt when he allocated his stat points, except this time it was a lot more concentrated. The sensation slowly flowed from his chest down to his right hand where he held the beast core.

His right hand felt warm and he felt a slight tingle in his right shoulder down to his hand. The warm sensation concentrated in his right palm and then slowly coated the small and shiny brown stone resting on his palm.

Harry slowly opened his eyes, he raised the beast core to his eye level and then stared at it.

The beast core maintained it small circular shape, the only difference was in its color. Before, it had a shiny brown colour but now that brown colour had been covered by the dull white colour that coated it. The mysterious substance covering the beast's core appeared to slowly sway around it.

'I guess this is the… work of mana conceal.' Harry thought. He didn't need any one to tell him before he understand the use of the blue substance coating the beast core.

However, the next system notification shocked him greatly.

[—20 Energy Points]

'Twenty…?!' Harry thought. He was shocked by how much his energy dwindled just because of one skill.

'This means I was only able to use the skill because I leveled up.' He said inwardly. Although he knew the skill would take more time to activate, he never expected it to deduct twenty points of his energy, he thought it would be about ten points at most.

A sigh left his lips as he stared at the now white beast core, he slowly stood up before walking to the small closet at the edge of his room. He opened the closet and then gently placed the beast core in it before finally closing the closet.

'Hmm… I should use this time to check my other skills.' Harry thought. 'Skills and abilities.' He called out.

—

[Skills and Abilities]

[Skill Points: 0]

>>Accelerate (level 1)

>>Healing and low-level regeneration (level 1)

>>Mana steal (level 1)

>>Mana conceal (level 2)

>>Mana core illusion (level MAX)

[Affinity Skills and Abilities]

>>Lightning Strike (level 1)

>>Lightning Whip (level 1)

>>Lightning dash (level 1)

>>Lightning ball (level 1)

—

'Accelerate.' Harry said inwardly. From the name, he knew it was something related to increasing his agility, perhaps a lower version of lightning dash.

——-

[Accelerate]

-Level 1

-Temporarily increase current speed by 20

——-

'Well… as I thought, it's similar to lightning dash… only a lesser version.' Harry mused. He wasn't sure about how much lightning dash increased his speed but he was very sure that it boosted it with more than twenty points.

'Healing and low level regeneration.'

———

[Healing and low level regeneration]

-Level 1

-Heal and recover from physical injuries.

[Host should level up the regeneration to high level or peak level for it to be able to regrow limbs]

———

'Regeneration… of body parts…' Harry said inwardly. He was slightly shocked by the regeneration aspect of the skill. Although, according to the system, the skill would only become that strong when the regeneration aspect of it gets to high or peak level, it still didn't reduce the absurdity of the situation.

Regeneration was an ability that was only present in mana beasts, although, mages—most especially combat mages—could develop healing abilities. Since their body was constantly strengthened and enhanced by mana—either actively or passively—it would become more resilient and would also develop faster healing abilities but not regeneration.

However, human mages could regenerate parts of their body through the healing spell of a powerful light mage—Even peak grade pills were unable to regrow body parts.

Mana beasts were different, they could heal and regenerate any part of their body as long their life was still intact. This was especially true for the ones from stage five and above.

When Harry saw that he had a skill that was capable of doing what grand mages and even supreme grand mages couldn't do, he was surprised.

He was sure that when the skill gets to that level, it was definitely going to be a formidable skill that would help him against his future opponents.

"Well… let me just check the next skills. Harry said. "Mana steal."

———

[Mana Steal]

-Level 1

-Steal and devour mana with a simple touch, converting it to EXP.

Daily limit: (0/3)

[The skill level is too low, so Host can only steal mana from those with stage one to stage three mana core.]

———-

'Wow… so I can only use it thrice a day and it can only work… on those with stage one to stage three mana core?' Harry asked.

[Yes Host]

A grin spread across Harry's face. He had been thinking of a way to get EXP, unknown to him that he actually had a skill that could convert mana to EXP, although it was could only be used thrice a day, it was still an impressive skill.

Harry gaze went lower towards the skill 'mana core illusion'. He found this skill strange… from the name to the level. Compared to his other skills, this was the only one that had MAX level, which meant he couldn't upgrade it.

"Mana core illusion…" He called out.

——

[Mana core illusion]

-Level MAX

-Creates a mana core illusion that deceives other mages.

[Host should know that the main purpose of this skill is to hide the host's identity as a Manaless mage, it doesn't take the Host's energy points either]

——-

When Harry saw the use of the skill, waves if different emotion washed over him.

Since he got the system, he had never given any thought as to what would happen if someone discovers he could perform magic without mana. Coupled with the fact that he had a skill known among mana beasts, he would definitely be seen suspiciously.

Although the skill didn't give him any boost, Harry felt it was still his most useful skill…

As he thought about the system, different questions popped in his mind; where did the system come from? How did he get the system?

******

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